Which Comic Has The First Appearance Of Shalla-Bal As Silver Surfer?

Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics | Tagged: earth x, ebay, norrin radd, Shalla-Bal, silver surfer, what if

Shalla-Bal first appeared in Silver Surfer #1, as the immortal Empress of Zenn-La and lover of Norrin Radd, the Silver Surfer.

Shalla-Bal first appeared in Silver Surfer #1, as the immortal Empress of Zenn-La and lover of Norrin Radd, the Silver Surfer, who becomes the Herald of Galactus in exchange for his planet being spared, separating the lovers for eternity. And who will be played by Julia Garner in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie scheduled for 2025, as a Silver Surfer of her very own.

And has seen a copy of Silver Surfer #1 from 1968 sell for $5600 in a CGC 9.0 slab on eBay earlier this month as a result.

There is, of course, comic book precedent for this, which has set the comics marketplace a flutter.

The parallel universe comic book by Jim Krueger, John Paul Leon and Alex Ross already had a marketplace flutter for inspiring the aspect of the Elementals movie that saw a Celestial child buried within each sentient planet. In Earth X, it is that which Galactus feeds from, and draws the attentuion of the Silver Surfer – both of them. Earth X #12 from 2000 has seen copies sell for $80 on eBay, after selling for around $3, a few days before the movie announcement.

The subsequent issue which has more than just a one panel came, and features the character’s death is a lot harder to find, as Earth X #13 was actually titled Earth X #X, and rarer Dynamite variants have sold for only $30 with the standard issue going for around $3.

If you can find it, that might be the bargain to grab now. But there is also another comic of note from 1982 which might have an earlier claim to the speculator’s coin.

What If #37 with a story by David Kraft, Mike Vosburg and Steve Mitchell which features Shalla Bal as Starglow, a herald of Galactus, has been selling for between $5 and $10 on eBay.

With Shalla-Bal tajing Norrin Radd’s role as the herald. She has a different name… but it may be noted that in Earth X, Shalla-Bal is never actually named as a Silver Surfer.

And then even ghosting Norrin Radd over it all. So which counts speculators? What If #37? Earth X #12 or #X? Or could even another comic of old be getting a bump…